Females may also use a threshold tactic whereby the first male that exceeds an established threshold criterion is accepted. The quality of accepted males should be higher for the respective female than the quality of rejected males. Under this scenario, females may compare only the last encountered males, a certain number of males or sample males for a certain amount of time before returning to the highest quality male. Alternatively, females may use a search tactic, in which they compare a number of males and then choose the male with the highest quality within their sample. This random mating implies that accepted males can be of any quality. The simplest and least costly female mate sampling tactic (in terms of time and energy expenditure) is to mate with the first male encountered. Several theoretical models as to how females sample potential mates have been proposed.

Such knowledge is also important to understand how selection acts on female mating preferences, since the expression of mating preferences depends on the mate sampling tactic. Detailed knowledge about female mate sampling behaviour is important because it directly affects the evolutionary trajectory of male characteristics. It has been demonstrated that females can gain direct and indirect benefits from choosing among males and from their preferences for certain male traits.ĭespite a steady increase in empirical and theoretical investigations about sexually selected traits, relatively few studies have been devoted to information gathering by females about male traits and decision making based on that information. In recent years, particular attention has been concentrated on determining the origin and adaptiveness of female mating preferences. The function of extravagant male characters and females preferences for these traits has been a major focus of research in behavioural and evolutionary biology. We hypothesize that the sampling tactic in this population is affected by 1) a strongly female biased sex ratio and 2) a low variance in traits of available males due to strong male-male competition, preventing low quality males from defending a territory and mating. pumilio prefer the closest calling male in the studied population. Playback experiments in the natural home ranges of receptive females revealed that tested females preferred the nearest speaker and did not discriminate between low and high call rates or dominant frequencies.

Instead females mated with the closest calling male irrespective of his acoustic and physical traits, and territory size. We found no evidence that females compared males by visiting them.

We continuously monitored the sampling pattern and behaviour of females during the complete period between two successive matings. We investigated mate sampling tactics and related costs in the territorial strawberry poison frog ( Oophaga pumilio) possessing a lek-like mating system, where both sequential and simultaneous sampling might occur. However, little is known about behavioural rules females use when searching for mates in their natural habitat. Females have often been shown to exhibit preferences for certain male traits.

Choosy power